Drug Delivery: Transdermal Delivery Devices: Fabrication, Mechanics and Drug Release from Silk (Small 21/2013)

A high aspect ratio microneedle biomedical device fabricated from aqueous silk protein solution using micromolding techniques is reported by D. L. Kaplan and co-workers on page 3704. The device is formed under ambient conditions, which allows the inclusion of sensitive pharmaceuticals or other bioactive compounds during fabrication with the retention of function of these active compounds post fabrication. The properties of the microneedles are tailorable based on the morphology of the needles and the post fabrication processing of the devices. The devices are biocompatible and also fully degradable in vivo due to proteolysis.